Icy Hinder
by Yaoimelody
Summary: Zane finds a lost kitten and brings it back to the other ninjas c:


Zane smiled as he walked out of the fast food place. Sure the food wasn't beautiful, but Jay was complaining about how he hasn't tried that certain place yet, but was too lazy to decide on going with the android. Not like the other could refuse to go get it, the pout was too adorable. Hearing scampering going behind him, he turned to see a tortoiseshell kitten rushing past him and followed by a few stray dogs. Shocked at this, he followed after as fast as he could without throwing the bag around.

Then he reached the area where the small kitten was being cornered and started to freeze the ground around the dogs to scare them off. The mutts looked around them to see the ground growing slightly frozen; only to turn around and notice the blond who they somehow realized was doing this. Lunging at him, they got nowhere as the snowy-silver spinjitsu tornado moved around them slowly. It refused to hit them, but it was clear to the canines it was higher than them. Giving up they retreated with the tail between their legs.

"Are you alright?" Zane bent down on one knee and scratched behind the ear of the kitten with his free hand.

It answered with a mewling sound that was too adorable and it purred like is had rust in its throat. Clearly the baby cat had barely any human contact.

The ice ninja pondered how to get the multicolored feline to follow along or pick it up one-handedly. Trying to gently get it with a hand at it's middle it twisted and turned; proving it was male. The android finally got him to calm down and rest up on the broad shoulder somehow.

Rushing home in a quick walk, he opened the door to find no one home, then huffed over to the dojo where he remembered they were in fact with Dareth at the moment due to a spider scare that happened before he left. Basically Cole saw a bigger spider, and even after Kai got it with his old sandals, wouldn't go back into the house and caused them to go elsewhere so he could calm down. Going into the right place this time, he noticed they all were in the back staring in the fishpond and talking amongst each other and laughing and Cole sulked gently.

The blond walked in and the kitten hopped down and straight towards the gold mine of food, until Jay picked him up. "Oh so cute!" Cooed the brunet as Zane sat down next to him and handed him the hamburger combo, which was no longer important now that the blue-adorned had the cat in his arms. "Where did you find him?" The younger questioned his boyfriend as he soothed the kitten with calm petting while holding him around the side to his chest with the other.

Soon the others grew interested and surrounded them cooing and reaching out to pet the little fluff ball, who clearly enjoyed being the center of attention eventually. Then Zane told the short tale and got admiring stares.

Lloyd got down next to the couple and got a better look, "Wow, he's so cute, can I hold him now?" It technically wasn't anyone's cat, but he looked clean apart the slight dust he had from wandering around, no doubt. Jay handed the cat over to the bright blond and it climbed so its paws were on the other's shoulder and the back paws were on one of the arms to keep balance, purring as he got petted how he found correctly, "He's pretty weird… He'll fit right in, though."

"Does he have a name?" Questioned Nya as her brother got his turn to hold the multicolored wonder.

Jay glanced at the 'nindroid', who shrugged, clearly not having thought of one, "Well, we should name him something we can all agree on," noticing Cole was still sitting over by himself, he took the cat and scooted it so it would go after the brooding ninja eager to have some play time as well.

The kitten bounded and eventually got close enough to pause and raise up its hindquarters slightly; ready to pounce the unsuspecting raven-haired teenager staring into the fishpond. Finally he leapt and landed on Cole's cross-legged lap and surprising him enough to send him backwards in shock. The kitten moved up and lay on the chest, victorious.

"Hinder," spat the boy, clearly getting over the spider by this time. The others grew a bit confused, and he sighed and rolled his eyes, "My parents are from the Netherlands, like how Jay's dad is from Norway, you know? So of course I'm going to pick up something."

Dareth laughed, "What a strange thing to name him," but before anyone could correct him, they ended up thinking about and the kitten moved off and onto a stone and poked at the water.

"Huh, what does it mean though?" Jay was figuring it wasn't too kind.

Cole grinned and dipped his bare feet into the water from a rock next to the curious feline, "It means something like 'nuisance', but not in a nasty way."

Kai called it over, and it padded over and rubbed its face on the tanned hand as the other that still stood sat down and called it over, but they had no clue where the sensei was. He seemed to have left while Zane came in.

It was a waste of training time, but they figured they deserved an even longer break since that was what the morning was composed of.

"Mm, this is pretty good," Jay praised his boyfriend like he was the actual cook, eagerly eating his order now that the whole kitten uproar calmed when Hinder rushed and fell asleep in, of all the places, Dareth's lap. The brunet was constantly pointing it out in a respective whisper as cat started to lie on it's back; with its paws curled, the tail wrapped up and around the insides of the haunches, and a soft snore-wheeze every so often.

"I'm glad you like it," grinned the bleach blond and received a gentle kiss when the sandwich was finished, which was slowly returned, earning a wolf-whistle from Kai, earning a glare from Cole who had moved over to sit by him eventually.

Jay lightly chuckled, embarrassed now, and sighed as the others couldn't contain their own laughter, but Dareth tried to keep it in to not startle the sleeping feline taking residence on his lap.

"Wait, can we even take care of a cat?" Nya looked around and saw the crestfallen faces she caused, "Guys, I know we all love him, but we can't keep him confined in the house, or afford all the vet check-ups or…" She trailed off disappointed, but then noticed the grinning face of the dojo owner and raised her brow.

"Well then I guess it's decided, Hinder will stay here in the dojo," as if that was what the other ninjas were thinking. "I mean it's obvious he loves it here, and you usually come over most the time so you won't be away from him too much. I get enough trainees to afford good enough food and if you help me pay for the veterinarian visits I can easily do that." Just then Hinder sat up and shook its fur, it turning sleeker as he gave the thicker hair long licks to ensure cleanliness on himself.

The smell of tea grew suddenly and they turned to see Sensei Wu coming out into the yard and sipping a cup of tea, and then placed it down on the porch table, coming out and clapping his hands together, "Looks like its settled."

The ninjas grew a bit confused, how did he know?

Wu rolled his eyes slightly, "You must think I'm deaf, hm? I think the neighboring buildings know about this cat too," But it was all in good jest, since he had a smile on his face and didn't look the least bit mad. "I'm hoping that Dareth can prove himself most helpful and trustworthy by taking care of our new friend."

Dareth gave his typical scoff, "Please, I can tell he already loves me," the cat was somewhat ignoring the man and watching the grass sway in the wind eagerly, not paying too much attention to the friendly hand scratching his back.

They other nearly laughed at the irony of how similar the two were, not doubting the cat would be renamed "Dareth Jr." soon enough, but they wouldn't truly allow it.

"Nuisance" was the right word, but of course; not in a bad way at all.


End file.
